The Trainer swing training aid also is a total body fitness device

By Patrick Jones, Senior Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Dec. 4, 2002) -- Jeremy Aisenberg, president of Dynamic Golf Technology (DGT) and inventor of The Trainer swing training device, confidently rolls physics and physiology phrases like "centripetal force," "neurotransmitter response" and "potentiation events" into his golf-swing discussions with the same ease of effort as tapping in a six-inch putt.

A Ph.D. candidate in Human Genetics at the Medical College of Virginia, Aisenberg casts an analytical and scientific eye on his favorite game and his company's training products. His technical explanations of the one-piece takeaway might play better on The Science Channel than The Golf Channel, but you can bet your white smock that his sometimes laboratory-sounding assertions are backed up by equal parts research in the real-world setting of the unforgiving golf course.

"I am an avid golfer, certainly not a professional or an instructor, but someone who plays regularly," said Aisenberg, who also holds certifications in physical and personal training. "My expertise is on the physics and the physiology of this product."

It's hard to question that declaration from someone who has done in-depth research on "Developmental Regulation of the Intact Human Beta-Globin Locus." (Perhaps the cosmic Mac O' Grady and chatty Gary McCord are the only other golfers alive who could pretend to comprehend such a topic, much less carry the other half of the conversation.)

Aisenberg's The Trainer swing training aid is a gripped metal golf shaft with a weight ring that can be positioned at three different locations on the shaft. It is designed to assist golfers in the never-ending quest to develop a powerful and repeatable golf swing.

According to the product's marketing text: "Through repeated use of The Trainer, you will learn the feel of a proper golf swing that remains on plane, is square at impact and transmits the optimum amount of force to the golf ball. If a player starts in one position, then the player should return to that same position at impact, and be able to do this with as little effort as possible. The Trainer is a tool that can teach a player to do this consistently, building the muscle memory critical in the golf swing."

Spurred to his creation by the grueling demands of graduate school impeding upon adequate time for his golf game, Aisenberg had tinkered with developing several different devices to allow him to practice at home in spare moments.

The Trainer prototype was swung in his garage. The next version went to his father-in-law, another avid golfer whose PGA instructor then took a liking to it. With the product becoming commercially available just this July, use of The Trainer already has spread to practice ranges at First Tee sites, the Nike Golf Academy in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and golf academies in North Carolina and the Richmond, Va., area.

Along with the product's successful introduction, Mark DeSisto, a PGA instructor based in Georgia, joined DGT as the company's vice president and director of golf development and instruction.

The company will officially unveil The Trainer "to the entire golf world," in the words of Aisenberg, at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January 2003.

Even with a slew of other swing-training devices, including the David Duval-endorsed Momentus Swing Trainer, already firmly established in the market, Aisenberg feels his company's product has its own distinct niche.

"The key difference between our trainer and anything else is versatility," he said. "Momentus has a product for strength. They have a product for your swing. They have a product for putting. The Trainer can do any and all of those things, and our product is as much a total body fitness device as it is a swing trainer.

"Our product will help a player develop strength, which is going to translate to everything golfers do in their life," added Aisenberg. "You can do stretches with it to increase flexibility and we have a series of strength-specific exercises to build strength and muscular endurance in all of the golf-specific muscles of your body."

Even more specifically, The Trainer, according to its literature, targets the Brachioradials, Vastus lateralis, Infrapspinatus and other golf-critical muscles you probably didn't even know you had -- and have never been introduced to except in cases of spasms.

With the attachable weight at the top location of The Trainer, the device offers drills that focus on the one-piece takeaway. Aisenberg said it replicates the same feeling and benefits of using a medicine ball, which is a common teaching implement used by many golf instructors to teach taking the arms, hands, body and club away from the ball as a single unit.

With the weight attached in the center position, "the physical force of the center of gravity of the shaft encourages the club to remain on plane," said Aisenberg. "That's reinforced by the fact that it's heavy. It's heavier than most standard training clubs. With lighter versions, players can manipulate the club and redirect it. It's a lot harder to do that with The Trainer. The heavier weight encourages the shaft to remain on plane.

"And it also encourages a balanced release toward the target, encouraging more arm rotation rather than hand and wrist flipping."

The emphasis of The Trainer with the weight at the bottom position is on maintaining control of a club that is perceptibly heavier and serves as a preventative to the dreaded out-to-in swing motion.

"The common tendency for your average beginning golfer is an over-the-top casting motion where they flip with their arms while still at the top of the backswing," said Aisenberg. "If you make that move with Trainer, and you're not Arnold Schwarzenegger, you're going to lose your balance. Rather than coming over the top, it will ingrain the feeling of dropping the club into the slot so you get a huge lag in your swing. You see that position with Tiger and Sergio."

Aisenberg said several touring pros have been using and experimenting with his newly designed device as part of their practice regimen, but a Duval and Momentus-like endorsement deal has not yet been worked out.

"The Trainer is out there being used by some very accomplished players that we'd like to have on board," said Aisenberg. "But nothing has been signed. Money talks.

"(The Trainer) is not a gimmick," he emphasized. "It's based on science. It can dramatically increase strength and distance. It's not going to cure your game just by purchasing it and using it indiscriminately. You have to use it methodically and make a conscious effort to practice the concepts it ingrains."

Don't sweat it if [Mass x Velocity2]/Radius] doesn't work for you as a key swing thought when standing over a 200-yard drive across H2O. Take comfort in knowing The Trainer's inventor already has designed the physics into the product itself. It's up to you to use it to formulate an improved game.

How to order and more information

The Trainer comes in three versions -- 36-inch Standard (41 pounds), 30-inch Midsize (4 pounds) and 30-inch Junior (23 pounds) -- and lists for $94.99 (plus shipping and handling). It can be ordered online at DGT's Web site at www.dgolft.com or by calling 877-691-GOLF.

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